Wwwweeeeee!

My last live poker experience was at Steve's "Fish Tank" $1/$3 NL Cash game last Thursday. This will be about one of the "parties" someone in the game is obligated to throw. Poker is frustrating when you think you are playing well, but still getting your ass handed to you. The night started off well, played tight, folded the first 8 hands or so. I pick up Jacks in MP after 1 limper and bump it to $20, too big, but just wanted to pick up a pot. I generally get a lot of "disrespecters" when I raise, but didn't think I'd get called by the rest of the table and all the players playing on the 2nd table upstairs!! As my 4 1/2 year old daughter would say, "What the?". For a flop without a Jack on it, it came down real nice, 8/9/10 w/2 diamonds. Had the over pair and open-ended (and the Jack of diamonds for insurance). Nellie led out with $40 into the $80 pot (really only 4 callers), one fold, another call. That puts roughly $180 in the pot and with the diamond draw out there, I figured only one move could earn me the pot. I flat bang it for $210 over, if I get called, I still have outs. Nellie grumbles something about me being behind, but folds? Guy in the 1 seat says good bet and folds. First pot i'm in is a good one and the stack is up over $450.

That would be the extent of it folks. Jeff B. would hit me off for two draw outs. He raised it to $15 only leaving himself like $30 behind. I call with K/Q suited in LP. Flop was A/Q/3. He checked, I thought about putting him, but figured him for A/K, so I checked behind. Turn was the 4, he bet $15 of his remaining stack, I just call like a dummy. River is a 2. He ships his last $15, of course I call. Well played Pops, JB was messing around with the good ole' PF nuts, 10/5 and went running wheel on me. Ok, so I played this hand bad. But I was waiting for him to do it again and I had him. He moved in on me on the turn when I had a Pair of Kings and he was on a flush draw. I had a medium kicker, but I knew it was the best hand when I called his $80 allin quick as shit. When the spade hit, I knew I had got outdrawn. Yup, some raggedy 10/6 of spades got there. It is disheartening to make a good call and get outdrawn, but I suppose that's life, I've done it too. So, stack is dwindling.

Got wrapped up in a hand with a new guy named Tom I believe. He was tilting after being hit hard for a couple of hundo. He limped with Ace/10 clubs on button and he made it $12 out of the BB. 2 callers before me, so I call with position. Flop was Q/9/low, 2 clubs. He leads out with $30 something, 2 folds, I decide to raise it to $75, thought I could get him off the hand. He thinks and calls. Turn was a blank, he checks. I check behind thinking he has a monster and won't fold anyway, plus I'm not there yet. River isn't a club, or an Ace. He checks again. Now I know he is marginal. You have to be able to bluff and win pots to be succesful and he was playing the hand very weak. So, I put out $100 as calm as possible, knowing I have squadush. He was disgusted by the bet and I don't think he wanted to call. I knew he was on tilt and I think that played into him calling, he didn't want to get bluffed. He winces and calls with K/Q off. Even says I played it right and made it real tough for him to call, but was on tilt. Awesome!

Ok, so mabye I don't play that good. This hand was def. bad. Keenan made it $17 and I look down at Ace/Jack and call in position. Few players to the flop which was Jack/8/3. He bets out $30 something. I should have raised right there, he would have reraised me and I could give him credit for Queens or better and minimize my losses. Oh no, I smooth call. Turn is an 8. That doesn't change anything in my mind. He bets out his stupid odd #'s $79. Now here is where I obviously should fold. What am I beating? Keenan likes to bluff though and he generally follows up his raises with bets no matter what he has. Once again, I play like a puss and just smooth call. The river is yahtzee for me, the Ace. Now if he did in fact have Queens or Kings, I just rivered him. Once again like a dummy, I open my mouth and say be careful, I may just call if you move in. Before the "n" comes out of my mouth, Keke moves in. I only have a little over a hundo left and went with my read and hoped I sucked out. Nope, he was fucking around from jump street with the good ole' Jack/8 offsuit. He hit 2 of his 3 outs to win the pot and I was drawing to a 1 out chop. Awesome!

Rebuy, the most dreaded words in poker. I really need to learn when enough is enough, but I reckon that will be another chapter. I've been in a game deep before and clawed my way out, plus I'm no quitter! I get wrapped up in a hand with a fellow Chief of mine and solid player known as Pdoggie. He's had more success in tourneys than ring games, but still a solid player. I limp with 9/6 off in the SB and he to my left checks the BB. Flop was 9/7/4, 2 clubs. I bet $17 into $12 to try and take it down, he calls, heads up now. Turn is a Jack of clubs, boo. I give up and check, he bets $25. I ask him why would he want to draw out on a fellow Chief, and he says "At the table it doesn't matter ifyou're a Chief". Something about the way he said it didn't sit with me, I knew he was bullshitting. I called the $25. River was an Ace. I still only have a meager pair of nines, six kicker, with a Jack, Ace and 3 clubs on the board. I check and quick as shit he says, "$140". Really? There is less than $100 in the pot, blatant overbet IMO. One of my weaknesses is reading other players. Most times, I'm wrong and pay them off, which tends me to fold more than I should when I think I have the best hand. This time, I just went with it, whats another $140 when your stuck $600 anyway. I call. He is amazed when I flip over the powerful 9/6 off. You should know better than to try and bluff bad players like me!

So I rebuild after that hand, and bleed it away again on missed draws and bad laydowns. Last hand that breaks me is me limping on the button with J/8 suited. Flop was Jack high. 1 seat checks, I overbet, he calls. Turn was another Jack, i'm solid now right. He checks, I move in for little over a hundo, he instacalls and show's me the Ace/Jack. I just miss the 3 outer on the river when the nine hits. Party over, total damage, 3 rebuys. I played good, I played bad. I made some good calls and made some bad laydowns. Its all part of the learning process and hopefully I will improve. I'm hoping 2007 to be a good poker year and I want to get away from cash games and play more tourneys, which I consider myself to be better at. I will be playing at the Donkey Corral on Wed., look for some more updates then.

Let the journey begin....

I too am jumping on the blog bandwagon like a few of my other poker playing friends whose blogs will be linked with mine shortly i'm sure. This avenue will be a place to share my playing experiences, my bad beats, lucky draws and everything in between. There is quite the community we have going in our poker circle, you will learn about alot of characters reading this blog. The people you will get to know share a unique relationship. While at the table, we want each others chips. Yet off of it, we will go out of our way to help each other out if necessary. We crack on each other (sometimes WAAYY to hard), laugh a ton, and over the last 2 years I have accumulated a plethora of hilarious stories that we relive often. I'm pretty well known on the MD Poker circuit, but probably for the wrong reasons. Like pushing $400 into the pot with 88 while on tilt, or maybe because I don't handle bad beats very well. Some people may think I'm a decent player, most will not. And that is OK, I have some good nights where I'll make a grand and I'll have nights where I throw parties to the same tune. There are a lot of us that do that, I guess we just rotate the money around. But, even though it may not seem like it while I'm at the table, I really do enjoy my time hanging out with everyone and I'm still working on getting better: at poker, at handling beats, running my home game and being a better person. Happy Holidays to everyone and I'll see you around "The Circuit".